Mark's Blog

The joys of owning a home

A couple of days after coming home from vacation, we realized that the well pump (a jet pump in our basement since our well was a shallow one) kept coming on every 15 minutes or so, even when we weren't using water. After going through the usual diagnosis (looking for leaking faucets, outside faucets left on, etc.), we killed all water to the house and watched with concern as the PSI slowly but inevitably decreased even though no water was being used. It would hit the cut-off point, the pump would turn on, recharge the water tank, turn off, and the process would begin anew.

Uh-oh.

Got a well-recommended plumber to the house, and told us something we really didn't want to hear - the most likely cause of what we were seeing was a failing foot valve. Sadly, one of the few parts of our water system not in our basement, but buried in the well itself.

Tricky thing is, we had no idea where the hell the well is.

A lot of phone calls later, we realized that none of the previous owners did either, and the only guy (who was still alive) who had any chance of knowing was the guy who originally drilled the well - in 1965. Didn't even bother pursuing that avenue, as I sincerely doubt he would remember. Got our plumbers to come out and use a deep metal detector to try to find the well casing. Got a hit quite close to the house, near where the piping came out. Great!, I think.

Proceed to spend a very sweaty 3 hours digging about 3 feet down, to find a very old, VERY rusty screwdriver. No well. Fuck me.

Plumber comes back out, and we spend a significantly longer time going over the whole yard. Mark out 2 spots, one with a very large feedback and another smaller one. Gather a few family members, and we dig down again, about 2 feet down or so.

To find a nice big fat metal casing, about a foot and a half long, just sitting buried horizontally there, leading to nowhere. No wonder the detector lit up like a Christmas tree. Whoever filled the front yard had a sick sense of humor. Bastard(s).

Daunted, but with the same problem still hanging over us, we said "f this" and rented an mini-excavator which my brother-in-law has become quite adept at using (he is building his house). It was starting to look more and more like the whole damn yard was going to have get dug up to find this damn well, and I'd be damned if I was going to be doing it shovelful by shovelful.

Insert wife going away on to a meeting for 3 days, so Dad is on his own with daughter.

Father-in-law and Brother-in-law come over this morning, as scheduled, to help. (Translation: I'm stuck in the house with 2 1/2 year old who can't be left alone, so my in-laws are doing the work while I sit inside. If you guys are reading this, I owe you BIG time!) Couple of quick holes later, we realize that this is going to need the systematic approach, and proceed to dig a nice 20 foot long trench in my front yard to find the damn piping.

Did I mention the big sharp teeth on the excavator yet? Oh yeah, nasty ones, designed to cut into the dirt.

And rubber piping too.

Got the pump turned off nice and quick, watched as all the water in my pressure tank spewed out into the big trench in my frontyard. Thankfully we only cut the pressure hose, not the suction (supply) hose, so the new pump we are installing should be alright. Dug the rest out, found the well cap (finally, after 2 weeks!), and finished up.

Father-in-law attempted to help re-prime the system, but I think the foot valve is totally blown at this point, so the water we are using to re-prime the system is just pouring out into the well below.

So, no water (at all, not even a trickle), with a dubious chance of getting it fixed tomorrow (it should qualify as an emergency, so we'll see what happens).

Oh yeah, I did mention that the wife is away, so this all has to happen around said earlier mentioned 2 1/2 year old.

Ah, the joys of owning a home.

Posted by Mark at August 28, 2005 05:06 PM